Do Entrepreneurs Really Need College?

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Forty five percent of college graduates show no improvement in critical thinking, complex reasoning or writing after two years of college. Thrive15 CEO & college drop out says college may be a waste of time for entrepreneurs.

Over the Last Decade College Tuition Has Risen 68%.

Although some professions require it, as an aspiring entrepreneur, I knew I didn’t need to spend three years studying the Mesopotamia River Valley, humanities or learning entrepreneurship from a professor who has never been an entrepreneur.

Tulsa, Oklahoma (PRWEB)July 16, 2014

More and more students are graduating from college and finding themselves without jobs, deeply in debt and without the skills they need to succeed in business. According to PewResearch, 21.6 million Millennials lived in their parents’ home in 2012. At least one third were college students. Forty five percent of college graduates show no improvement in critical thinking, complex reasoning or writing after two years of college (New York Times, March 2013).

Research shows that many graduates are not learning the practical training they need to succeed.
Thrive15 is offering a solution to aspiring entrepreneurs by providing practical training that can be applied immediately. CEO Clay Clark says he dropped out of college so he could pursue growing his business full time.

“Most of the entrepreneur success stories and industry makers that I aspired to be like were not college graduates. The Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, John D. Rockefeller, Walt Disney, Richard Branson, Russell Simmons, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and countless other top level entrepreneurs didn’t graduate from college, but they did need practical education,” says Clark. “Although some professions require it, as an aspiring entrepreneur I knew I didn’t need to spend three years studying the Mesopotamia River Valley, humanities or learning entrepreneurship from a professor who has never been an entrepreneur."

While wearing a cap and gown and presenting an ironic and powerful message to the Stanford Graduating Class of 2005, college dropout and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said, “I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

“I grew up without a lot of money. After studying the lives of many of America’s most successful entrepreneurs, I realized that I didn’t need to complete college to achieve my goals,” says Clark. “I created Thrive15 to provide others with practical entrepreneurial education that would be taught by people who had an idea and turned it into a profitable business.”

Thrive15 provides 15-minute entertaining and practical business educational videos taught by millionaires, mentors and everyday entrepreneur success stories. Thrivers can learn leadership from former NBA Hall of Famer David Robinson, management from former Executive VP of Walt Disney World Resorts Lee Cockerell, how to raise capital from Regent Bank President and CEO Sean Kouplen or how to grow a business at home from Mompreneur Jill Donovan of Rustic Cuff.

According to a Fidelity survey of 750 college graduates featured in a CNN Money story, the class of 2013 college graduates are an average of $35,200 in debt.

According to a study reported in The Atlantic and originally covered by the Associated Press, nearly 53 percent of recent graduates are unemployed.

According to Chronicle.com nearly 17 million college graduates did not need a degree for their current occupation including 317,000 waiters and waitresses and 80,542 bartenders who all have college degrees.

Famous Dropouts Who Changed the World:

Celebrated director, Quentin Tarantino was a high school dropout at the age of 16.

Legendary visionary, Walt Disney was a high school dropout at the age of 16.

Billionaire serial entrepreneur, Richard Branson was a high school dropout at the age of 16.

Most prolific inventor of all time, Thomas Edison was a high school dropout.

Founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg was a college dropout.

World’s wealthiest man, Bill Gates was a college dropout.

Co-Founder of Apple, Steve Jobs was a college dropout.

Billionaire founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad was a high school dropout at the age of 17.

Legendary founder of Carnegie Steel, Andrew Carnegie dropped out of high school.

Iconic founder of CNN and Turner Television, Ted Turner, was kicked out of college.